Cleanup Grants

Cleanup grants provide funding for a grant recipient to carry out cleanup activities at brownfield sites. An eligible entity may apply for up to $200,000 per site. Due to budget limitations, no entity can apply for funding cleanup activities at more than three sites. These funds may be used to address sites contaminated by petroleum and hazardous substances, pollutants, or contaminants (including hazardous substances co-mingled with petroleum). Cleanup grants require a 20 percent cost share, which may be in the form of a contribution of money, labor, material, or services, and must be for eligible and allowable costs (the match must equal 20 percent of the amount of funding provided by EPA and cannot include administrative costs). A cleanup grant applicant may request a waiver of the 20 percent cost share requirement based on hardship. An applicant must own the site for which it is requesting funding at time of application. The performance period for these grants is three years.

Our climate is changing and we need to adapt to make sure our cleanups are still protective of human health and the environment now and into the future. To ensure that cleanups remain effective as the climate changes, EPA has added a new term and condition in the cleanup and revolving loan fund grants requiring recipients to consider changing climate conditions when evaluating cleanup alternatives. EPA created a checklist to help cleanup and revolving loan fund recipients address changing climate concerns in an analysis of brownfield cleanup alternatives (ABA).